Homemade Laundry Soap

My laundry stash

For the past 2 months I have been studying to pass the NCIDQ exam which I need to pass to become a certified licensed professional in the interior design/architecture field. It has eaten up so much of my time lately and I am excited for the first part of the exam to finally be over after Oct. 1st!! Its been kinda sad because since I started blogging I haven't really been able to post any pictures or update any info yet.(So don't mind my typing errors!) However, making homemade laundry soap  is a really easy thing to do. I got my first recipe from my friend Ruth.  She got it from this website I posted below.

The website has some other good information on all sorts of topics. You should check it out!  It has the recipe along with pictures of how the process should look. I tweaked it a little bit according to how smelly the clothes get- Thanks to Tyler and his basketball gear :)

One thing I learned from making homemade laundry soap is that it is cheap. Whether you are on a tight budget, want to save money, or just have laundry soap that lasts longer this is a good way to do that b/c the ingredients are cheap to buy. The cost of all the ingredients you need are less than an actual container from the store.

Great for Gifts. This was for a friend's shower.

Also, it is better for your skin, babies skin, and the environment. It does not have all the harsh chemicals that most of the store brands have which dries out skin and is bad if you have eczema. Here is a list of ingredients and items you need for the recipe:( by the way, only use these for making soap. I would not use them for cooking after with!)

1. A medium size pot and large mixing spoon
2. A measuring cup- 1 cup
3. A 5 gallon bucket or sm./med. rubbermaid tote with lid
4. Box of Borax. This can be found in the laundry isle. I use 20 Mule Team brand
5. Box of Washing Soda. It can be found in the same isle and looks like a large baking soda box
6. Cheese grater
7. A gallon milk jug or something that measures a gallon
8. Bar of  Fels Naptha laundry soap. It is found in the laundry section as well. I used it once, but I did not like the smell. It works great, but your soap is where your fragrance will come from so choose a bar that has smell, but is soft for your skin. Ivory bar soap is also good. I used that a lot. Some people use glycerin or organic bars.
9. Optional-scented essential oil of your choice

 So here is how I make it:

1. Grate your soap with the cheese grater to help melt it faster. I grate on the lid of the container so it does not get everywhere. If you are using Fels Naptha, only use 1/2 the bar.
 2. Add grated soap to your pot and put over medium heat. Add about 5 cups of water. Let soap dissolve
3. Add 1/4 cup or 1/2 of Washing Soda and Borax depending on how thick and concentrated you want your detergent. Let that all dissolve, then remove from heat.
4. Add 4-6 cups of  hot water to your large bucket, then add your ingredients from your pot. Mix well.
5. Add 1 more gallon of warm water to the mix. stir. If you want, add an extra 2-4 cups of water
6. You can add some scented oil if you like. I have found that you have to add a lot in order to get a smell out of it. This may be expensive for you since oils are not cheap. That is why I use scented soaps.
7. Once it is all mixed, cover it with a lid and wait 24 hours to use. It will be very jelly like, but that is okay. Mix it again. It is a highly concentrated recipe so it does not take much. Use about 1/2 cup to 1 cup per load. It also is not sudsy. Like the website says, it is the ingredients that clean, not the bubbles :)

This is what I keep my soap in

A gelatin consistency

You can also double the recipe for a longer batch. I also add 1/4 cup of vinegar to my loads to neutralize odors. You can also buy fragrance free fabric sheets for the dryer and add essential oils to it.
  You can always use regular detergent, but then add  an additional 1/4 cup of this recipe to each load as a stain fighter and odor eliminator. Purex is a good brand to buy in the stores because it uses the same ingredients as above.Use the website link to learn much more about laundry soap! I use it for Emery's cloth diapers as well. There are many other all natural brand detergents that work well with baby diapering. To me, it beats buying the baby detergent from the store b/c they just want your money for such a small amount!

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

Now all of these ingredients shall last you for months! A lot of these ingredients are found in store bought detergents. The only thing missing is the chemicals that make is smell or the chemical bleaching agents.  These all natural ingredients have the same cleaning power and can also be used for many other house hold cleaning tasks. See the back of the box for ideas and recipes.  Seriously, try it! It takes like 5-10 minutes total. I thought it was crazy at first, but then really loved it. It can also be a good stress reliever just making it :) I have even made some and packaged it for baby shower gifts, etc.! You will take pride in making it, hopefully! Let me know if you try it and  share your thoughts!!  ( B.T.W. I will try to get pics of the process at some point in the future)